Safe Spaces & Loans for 2,000 Girls in Bangladesh

Soon after implementing this young women's empowerment initiative in Bangladesh, BRAC realized that magic happens at the confluence of social and financial empowerment. Far from family pressure and the stress of male-centric society, girls are able to come together, play sports, build supportive social networks, voice concerns, learn about reproductive health, and build awareness of women's rights. It is in these safe spaces that key financial skills are introduced and livelihood opportunities seized.

BRAC now runs this program, known as Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescents (ELA), in Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and South Sudan. Participation in ELA has been linked with a 35% increase in self-employment, 50% increase in reported condom usage, a 29% decrease in early motherhood, and an astonishing 83% decrease in reports of having sex unwillingly – whether forced or for survival. These numbers speak strongly about the empowering effects that ELA has on the young women who get involved. Check out this video that features ELA girls from Uganda.

The ELA program is on track to expand in the coming years. BRAC's current focus is raising funds that will be matched and multiplied by our partners. These funds will go to a new crop of projects that seek to empower women and girls through education, farming, or improved community healthcare networks in places like Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Check out our Global Giving page to make a contribution that will have extraordinary leverage! As always, thank you for your support and generosity.

With the support of the Nike Foundation, BRAC’s girl effect work in Bangladesh continues to make important strides forward in improving the social as well as economic standing of girls in their community. BRAC Bangladesh reports that 65 percent of club members in Bangladesh now have a savings account with the program, showing how they are putting in action the lessons they've learned so far about financial literacy.

Club committees have also been established for 360 clubs, made up of older members of the community who may be club alumnae or may otherwise be interested in supporting the clubs locally. Thirteen of the committees have even successfully established local trust funds expressly for that purpose.

As BRAC had experienced decades ago with its microfinance village organizations using philanthropic capital as a catalyst to reach self-sustainability, that same transformation is taking root with our adolescent girls programming, and everyone is grateful to have you on that journey with us.

In Bangladesh, close to two million young people join the workforce annually. Many of the opportunities that are currently on the market are not in the formal sector, but rather are entrepreneurial opportunities in the growing informal service sectors.

BRAC caters to hundred of thousands of youths and offers a range of empowering programs and services, including many dedicated to livelihood development and income generation. Last year, BRAC's Social Innovation Lab explored how BRAC's programs are working to support entrepreneurship and where there are opportunities to do more. We learned the most in speaking with current members of BRAC's programs, such as the Adolescent Development Program and listening to their stories.

Contrary to what you may expect (and to our experience in adolescent programs outside of Bangladesh), the adolescents who we spoke to showed a keen interest in job-seeking rather than entrepreneurship. In Dhamrai, Dhaka, we met a Rabeya, a 16-year-old member of ADP. Rabeya is a very bright student and is consistently at the top of her class. She plans to complete higher studies and pursue a career in the job market, but when we asked about applying her talent to become an entrepreneur, she is afraid to even consider it as an option. The risk and stigma associated with entrepreneurial ventures has her choosing the security the formal employment sector over the potential of establishing a thriving business.

In Chittagong, we met Halima, an ambitious15-year-old girl who is receiving training from another BRAC program--STAR or Skills Training for Advancing Resources, to become a tailor. STAR is currently providing vocational training to 1,000 school dropouts, drastically increasing their chances for job placement through training in growing market sectors. Halima is ambitious and displays the characteristics of a natural entrepreneur as she dreams of one day having her own shop. However, she doesn't equate that goal with that of being an entrepreneur. Difficulty in accessing financial resources and knowledge on basic business practices hampers her confidence in pursuing her dream.

This feedback from our participants helps us to understand that drastic improvements are needed at all levels of society to cultivate the entrepreneurial mindsets of young people. Successful entrepreneurs need to be celebrated and their stories and knowledge shared with creative and aspiring youths in Bangladesh.

But just a change of mindset still won't be enough. At the "Investing in Youth" workshop held by the Social Innovation Lab in April 2012, we met Sabila, a young energetic tech entrepreneur running her own company and has great potential for success. Unfortunately, a lack of societal support for her venture and the ventures of other emerging young entrepreneurs like herself is hindering their success in a highly competitive market.

With your support of BRAC's Adolescent Program, we are able to continue identifying opportunities to improve our programs and find new ways to empower these bright young entrepreneurs, cultivate interest in market innovation and break down stubborn taboos that hinder the entrepreneurial spirit of young people in Bangladesh.

The success BRAC's adolescent program has experienced in Bangladesh is far from being a result of chance--thanks to rigorous research and evaluation, the program has evolved through a combination of statistical analysis coupled with a native understanding of local social practices. The strategy starts by mobilizing the communities where BRAC aims to build adolescent programming by taking the following steps:

1. Identifying social groups and mapping existing formal structures or networks. In many rural areas, networks include adult males, religious leaders, teachers, and the parents and extended family of children. BRAC also recruits and trains female volunteers who become the nucleus of a social network of women.

2. Building trust with the community by providing something to meet their perceived needs. In most communities, BRAC starts a credit program that involves the poorest of the poor in economic activities to alleviate poverty.

3. Developing forums around social networks to engage in dialogue with the community. Key elements of developing effective community forums include 1) identifying appropriate actors; 2) recognizing and responding to communication patterns and behavioral cues that exist in the community; 3) building cultural beliefs about the authority and reliability of the information provided in the forum; and 4) using fora to strengthen existing positive relationships within the family and community.

4. Within community forums, exposing members to new ideas, involving them in problem solving, and encouraging "risky innovations." As forum members are taken through this process, they become advocates for the program approach by integrating program objectives into their own lives and value systems.

BRAC engages communities in an evolutionary process that introduces new ideas, and through open dialogue, community members are able to address more sensitive issues such early marriage, women's rights and adolescent reproductive health. It was through the process of community mobilization that BRAC has been able to establish 8,037 adolescent clubs to date across the country, and has become a widely accepted and celebrated part of the community.

It's usually an insult to say that someone "throws like a girl," but the members of BRAC's Adolescent Development Program, or ADP, in Bangladesh have shown that throwing - or kicking, or hitting - like a girl is something to aspire to. ADP has developed 35 soccer teams, 40 cricket teams and 15 volleyball teams comprised of adolescent girls, who are experiencing organized team sports for the first time in their lives. These girls are proving to themselves and the program directors that team spirit enhances self-esteem and helps to build lasting social skills like cooperation and teamwork. Check out the link below to see how our girls - and boys!- are going from poor villages to national stadiums with their skills.

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